To Have and to Hold
by wise cracking owl
Summary: My first fic. I've been reading them for ages so thought I'd have a go myself. It's a reflective piece about the gang's thoughts on Monica and Chandler's wedding. Please randr


**To Have and to Hold**

This is my first fic so please be bear with me if it's not very good. I would really appreciate any advise you can give me. It's about Monica and Chandler's wedding and the gang's thoughts.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters (shame!),they belong to Bright, Kauffman and Crane. Any lines/jokes quoted from the show aren't mine either.

The dusk was fast approaching. The street lights were just beginning to cast their harsh light as the rays of sunlight began to fade. The car engines started as Manhattan went about its regular daily life. Soon the rush hour hustle and bustle would begin and the city would erupt into chaos, the red glow of break lights of the many cars at the traffic jams would symbolise the anger of the frustrated drivers and the music from the car stereos would drown out the cursing of the husband risking infuriating his wife if he doesn't make it home in time for tea or the barmaid who'll be fired if she's late again and the fashion victim who needs to be home to hide her purchases from Bloomingdale's sale before her partner and joint account holder returns home! Had it been any other day Monica Geller would be running around the rat race with the best of them. Not today. Today was the day.

A warm radiance filled Monica's hotel room, the soft evening light that peeped in from the gap between the curtains cast a heavenly glow on the wall and the voile curtain swaying in the gentle breeze made playful shadows on the luxurious ivory satin of her wedding dress hanging proudly from the curtain rail. Her stomach, lurched, her head span and her heart somersaulted. The shadows danced with her. This evening she would finally declare to the world that she was at last somebody's one and only. In just a few short hours she would give her heart and soul to the one that she loved. Forever.

Forever. A word that had previously scared him so much, a scenario that he had run away from so many times before, that only yesterday had nearly caused him to make the biggest mistake of his life. Nervously, Chandler fumbled into his jacket pocket and shaking he pulled out a cigarette, answer to life's many problems he thought. Imagining the concerned faces his friends would have inevitably pulled had they heard him and the various preachings that would have followed, a smile played on his lips. He heard Monica- beautiful, loving, perfect Monica and hurriedly, without thinking let the cigarette burn and die. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her and that included conquering his fear of forever.

As Chandler re-entered the hotel room Ross flashed him a small smile. Chandler could see the happiness in Ross's eyes. It was pretty perfect he thought, marrying Monica would bring the pair closer still unless of course he messed up and god forbid, would get that ass-kicking Ross had threatened! You could see Monica in Ross. The competitive streak, the stubbornness, the compassion. They shared so much more than an upbringing and Chandler knew no partner could ever come between their bond and he had no intention of trying to. Yes, it was pretty perfect- marrying his best friend's sister.

His best friend and his sister. Once upon a time the thought would have been enough to wake up Red Ross. Ross couldn't say the thought of them doing things (he shuddered slightly) exactly thrilled him but he honestly couldn't be happier for them. He could even forgive Chandler for his little disappearing act earlier after seeing the look on his face when he showed them the babygro. He was so happy for Monica. Though it had been rather a shock, his baby sister having her own baby.

A baby. Monica was going to have a baby. She would be a wife and mother at last, thought Phoebe and Chandler was happy too. If she was honest she'd been on edge all day not least because the groom was a flight risk and this day had to go perfectly. However Chandler's face as he told Ross about the baby was enough to settle her nerves. Now, as she entered Monica's room, Phoebe simply basked in her friends' happiness. She beamed at Monica, in her gorgeous wedding gown. Monica's radiant brunette curls cascaded gracefully onto the straps of her dress, softening the cut while the simple choker was the perfect accessory. Monica was simply stunning. She looked so mature, so happy. Phoebe couldn't believe that this angel was the girl she had first met. All her traits were still there yet somehow more loveable. Phoebe no longer felt the need to retreat into hiding for a week if she stained a cushion! It was like something had been missing all those years and now Chandler completed her. Monica had come such a long way since she and Phoebe had shared apartment 20 as roommates.

Her roommate, her confidante, her best friend. Rachel and Monica had been inseparable for so many years, there wasn't anything they didn't tell each other and they had no secrets. Rachel felt she could rely on Monica for anything and knew the feeling was mutual. For Rachel today was bittersweet. She was no longer Monica's sole confidante and although, of course, she was happy for her friend, there was a part of her that regretted that the Monica and Rachel era was essentially over.

She watched as Monica smoothed down the creases in her stunning white gown and nervously wring her hands as she waited desperately to go to the wedding. Monica was, without a doubt, the most beautiful bride Rachel had ever seen. She looked truly angelic. Even Judy had not been able to find fault with the blushing bride's appearance but Rachel doubted that the mother of the bride, or indeed anyone, was as proud of Monica as she was. After all she was the one Monica had hung pillowcases off the back of her heads with! Rachel sighed, giving away her best friend, as it were, would not be easy but Monica was living the dream and Rachel loved her too much to want to take any part of that away from her.

It was time. As Rachel watched Monica and Chandler approach the vicar hand in hand, she swallowed hard and prayed that Monica and Chandler's happily ever after would be the picture perfect fairytale Monica longed for so badly. The vicar began, "Dearly beloved…"

"That's my line!" Joey burst in from the back of the hall and ran down the aisle to the alter, receiving bemused stares from the guests and a Monica death glare! Aware that he really should be feeling rather embarrassed at the moment, Joey was surprised that his only emotion was delight. Now assembled in front of the bride and groom and congregation, he smiled to himself and then at Monica and Chandler, for he knew that what he was about to do would be the most rewarding job he'd ever been given.

"Dearly beloved," he picked up where the stand in vicar had left off, "since I have left my notes in my dressing room," Joey gulped at the realisation. Never before had he had any sort of stage fright, " we will proceed to the vows." It was as Monica and Chandler spoke that he realised it wasn't stage fright that had caused him to forget his lines, it was the sheer magnitude of the scene unfolding before his eyes- his two best friends making a life long commitment to each other. Joey was unable to comprehend the extremity of the love surrounding him but he knew that whatever happened it would last and together Monica and Chandler could conquer anything.

And Ross knew that Chandler would never hurt his sister.

And Phoebe knew that her, once insanely neurotic roommate, was now complete.

And Rachel knew that such was Chandler's love for Monica that he would never come between his bride and her best friend.

And Monica and Chandler knew that they would be together forever.


End file.
